Preevent is not the same thing as the patch. Pre-event is Theramore stuff. THe patch 5.0 will probably be deployed earlier, in case something goes wrong. How earlier we do not know.

I agree, I see no reason why Blizzard couldn't release the pre-expansion patch earlier then the "2 week" notice we had regarding the Theramore event. It's not like that can't be turned on at that point. Release 5.0 as soon as possible give players a few extra days of playing with the new talents, glyphs,etc.

Personally, I'm hedging a release on the 21st of August... Blizzard will like want everyone to have a "taste" so to speak of MOP to hedge off GW2 a week later. But who knows...

No, there wasn't. That is player speculation. Patch 5.0 will most like be released before that.

They said a while back (I think it was for the press event) that they were aiming to activate the pre-event about two weeks before launch. That was quite a while ago, but it's still the only thing we have to go on.

That said, deploying the patch and activating the event are two different things entirely.

It's currently 7 weeks to release so going on previous history, the patch could drop any week now. Aug 21 or Aug 28 are by far the most probable dates (it's very unlikely that it'll be this coming week since preloading just started today).

You will also note that all of these expansions have had a balancing or extra patch after the systems patch but before the actual release - I don't think they'll have time to do that in 2 weeks and they'd have to be supremely confident to drop the systems patch that late.

It says, •The Pre Mists of Pandaria Patch will be roughly two weeks before launch and bring simple rewards.

Take Notice of the world Roughly

You might want to look at the context in which I was referencing that. It was *not* to indicate that it was a matter of *exactly* two weeks. It was to: A. Prove Blizzard made comments on the timing of the patch (which someone earlier doubted) and B. Explain why some people think the two weeks comment was in regards to the patch, rather than the event. I believe I said earlier READ: in this same topic! that the schedule might have changed and that it could release at any time.

Edit: And "roughly", in regards to a time frame, is arbitrary. Personally, I would not consider a month to be roughly two weeks. Does Blizzard? I don't know. It really is silly to argue semantics over such an obscure and loosely used adverb.

Instead of releasing the expansion at/around the same as a competitors game (Guild Wars 2), they release the expansion aprox. 1 month after. Even if Guild Wars 2 isn't a subscription game, some may think (consciously/unconsciously) that the game HAS a subscription, and will likely "quit" within the first month. Leaving a perfect opportunity to "return" to WoW. Historically, Blizzard also tends to launch the "pre-expansion patch" about a month before the expansion. Which happens to be... around the time of Guild Wars 2 launch. Leaving people to decide either to play the new game, or return to WoW and try out all the new systems, talents etc.

Guild Wars 2 launches on August 28th (preorders on the 25th). Doesn't take a rocket scientist, to assume that 5.0.4 is going live on either the 21st or 28th (22nd/29th for EU).